BAPSY Social Psychology 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The 'just-world hypothesis' leads people to believe that victims of misfortune:
- Deserve sympathy and assistance
- Must have done something to deserve their fate (Correct answer)
- Are statistically more likely to suffer again
- Should be compensated by society
Correct answer: Must have done something to deserve their fate
The just-world hypothesis is a cognitive bias where people assume the world is fair, leading them to blame victims rather than acknowledge random misfortune.
Question 2: Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment is primarily cited as evidence for the power of:
- Individual personality traits over situational roles
- Situational roles and institutional structures over individual behavior (Correct answer)
- Random assignment in psychological research
- Bystander apathy in controlled settings
Correct answer: Situational roles and institutional structures over individual behavior
The experiment showed that ordinary people assigned to prison roles rapidly adopted extreme behaviors consistent with those roles, demonstrating situational power.
Question 3: In the context of attitude change, 'cognitive dissonance' occurs when a person experiences discomfort due to:
- Receiving contradictory information from two trusted sources
- Holding two or more inconsistent cognitions simultaneously (Correct answer)
- Being persuaded by an argument they previously rejected
- Failing to act on an attitude they strongly hold
Correct answer: Holding two or more inconsistent cognitions simultaneously
Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory posits that inconsistency between attitudes or between attitudes and behavior creates psychological tension motivating change.
Question 4: Which of the following best illustrates 'deindividuation' in a crowd?
- A fan wearing a unique jersey to stand out at a game
- Rioters wearing masks and engaging in destructive behavior they normally would not (Correct answer)
- A student raising their hand to answer a professor's question
- A person donating anonymously to charity
Correct answer: Rioters wearing masks and engaging in destructive behavior they normally would not
Deindividuation occurs when anonymity within a group reduces self-awareness and normal restraints, increasing impulsive or antisocial behavior.
Question 5: Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner) predicts that simply being categorized into a group will lead people to:
- Develop equal preference for all groups
- Favor their in-group over out-groups (Correct answer)
- Reduce stereotyping toward all other groups
- Seek out new groups to join frequently
Correct answer: Favor their in-group over out-groups
Even minimal group categorization produces in-group favoritism because group membership contributes to positive social identity.
Question 6: The 'contact hypothesis' proposes that prejudice between groups can be reduced through intergroup contact, but only when the contact involves:
- Brief, superficial encounters
- Equal status and cooperative interdependence (Correct answer)
- Majority-group members educating minorities
- One-on-one rather than group interactions
Correct answer: Equal status and cooperative interdependence
Allport identified equal-status, cooperative, and institutionally supported contact as the key conditions for reducing prejudice through intergroup interaction.
Question 7: Reactance theory (Brehm) predicts that when people feel their behavioral freedoms are threatened, they will:
- Comply with restrictions to avoid conflict
- Experience increased desire for the restricted behavior (Correct answer)
- Become indifferent toward the restricted option
- Seek authority approval before acting
Correct answer: Experience increased desire for the restricted behavior
Psychological reactance is the motivational state that arises when freedom is threatened, driving people toward the restricted behavior as a way to reassert autonomy.
BAPSY Social Psychology 4
The 'just-world hypothesis' leads people to believe that victims of misfortune: